2 Simple Ways To Dramatically Increase Blog Traffic

Increase blog traffic quickly with these two simple measures.

If you have an author blog, you know that getting more traffic is vital to you in helping to sell more books.

However, if a hard-won visitor only stays long enough to quickly scan read one page, it is unlikely they will have spent enough time on your site to notice your book buy links.

In SEO terms, this is called a high bounce rate, when a visitor views a single page and then leaves.

The best way to increase blog traffic is to lower your bounce rate and encourage visitors to stay and read for a much longer duration. During which time, your books are more likely to be discovered.

I had this problem, and as you can see from the image below, my traffic data made for sad reading. Sure, I was getting traffic, but my bounce rate was sky high. It was time for action.

One month later, my data confirmed that the two simple changes I had made had worked extremely efficiently. Not only had my bounce rate reduced to next to zero, but my organic search traffic was increasing.

So what did I do to increase my traffic and page views so quickly?

Step One: I added internal links to my existing posts.

It is so very easy to do. In all blogging platforms, there is a link button, but the key here is to link back to your own posts using an embedded text link and make sure the link does not open in a new tab or window. By doing this, you keep your visitor on your site.

In WordPress, it is very easy to find content to use as an internal link. For example, if I stay on the subject of embedded linksand want to create an internal link, all I need to do is highlight the text I want to use as a link, enter a search word or phrase and WordPress will find my associated posts.

If you now click on my new internal link, embedded text, it will take you to a new page on this blog. But please hit your back button to return here to read the rest of this post!

It is very important to repeat that internal links must not open in a new tab. Internal links keep a visitor engaged on your blog, by giving them something additional, or more interesting to read.

Internal linking is especially important for readers using smartphones, because sidebars are not visible until well after your post and comments, so they will not see your book, related posts or most popular post widgets. For smartphone and tablet readers, internal linking is a must.

By adding one or two internal links (maximum 3) to my existing and new posts, my traffic has increased dramatically.

One huge added bonus of internal linking is that search engines such as Google track them, and see these links as a positive search signal because of their added value. This, in turn, helps your post in search engine rankings and will increase your organic traffic.

Conclusion

All authors need a blog to promote their author brand and books. But with these two simple changes to how you use links in your posts, your traffic, bounce rate and page views will all improve very quickly and increase your blog’s effectiveness.